interest rate cuts intact. winds of change. the uk's new state run firm great british energy announces its first project to cut reliance on fossil fuels. and it hopes bring down bills. and from crypto sceptic to crypto evangelist. what's behind donald trump's digital conversion as he battles to return to the white house? welcome to business today. i am michelle fleury. there is a collective sigh of relief across wall street as the markets open broadly flat after a brutal sell—off in big tech shares which turned into a market rout on wednesday, wiping trillions of dollars off the market value here in the us and asia and europe. the snp 500 and nasdaq both

had their worst days since 2022, restoring some confidence, better than expected economic data here in the united states. we will get that in some detail in a moment. let's go to nashville tennessee and speal to david waddell, president and chief investment strategist at waddell & associates. welcome back to the show. yesterday was the worst day in a year and a half or us markets. now we have had time to sleep on it, what happened? well, it wasn't quite as bad as it appeared. the magnificent seven was down 6% of a cohort. they make up 3% of the index. the other a93 were only down 1%. this sell—off was yesterday. it started when the lighter than inflation report came out on the 10th ofjuly. from that point, it was down 16%. the magnificent seven were down 10%.

however, small cap stocks in the usa were up 10% in that period. you are seeing a rotation acting on the market, and it should be happening because we were very overbought going into mid july, we had levels which were the highest in the year for retail, and the highest since 2021 for professional investors. we had a lot of complacency. the levels had a lot of complacency. the levels had been sending down below 20... for 20 days or something crazy. a week period for the markets from mid—july. 0n week period for the markets from mid—july. on average down to an hour percent. this isjust seasonality rearing its head, and the rotation happening on the market, in my view, isjust healthy. i happening on the market, in my view, is just healthy. i am not bearish at all, this isjust a technical reshuffling of the deck. explain this to me. _ reshuffling of the deck. explain this to me, gdp _ reshuffling of the deck. explain this to me, gdp points - reshuffling of the deck. explain this to me, gdp points to -

reshuffling of the deck. explain - this to me, gdp points to strengthen the economy. it came in better than expected. at the same time, we have results from a ford, american airlines, nestle, the list of companies coming out with disappointing news keeps growing. what should we be believing here? the company results which suggest a more negative outlook or the latest gdp data? , . , ., ., , gdp data? great question. economies are alwa s gdp data? great question. economies are always a — gdp data? great question. economies are always a mixed _ gdp data? great question. economies are always a mixed bag. _ gdp data? great question. economies are always a mixed bag. if— gdp data? great question. economies are always a mixed bag. if you - gdp data? great question. economies are always a mixed bag. if you look i are always a mixed bag. if you look at the 2.8% gdp growth number that we got this morning, almost 1% of it was inventory. it is a little bit overstated in terms of how strong the economy is. there are some signs of weakness. housing is very weak in the usa right now. if you look at consumer critic conditions, they are deteriorating, and then if you look at airlines, automobiles, you are seeing price cuts and deterioration, so we are seeing some impact on this long and variable cycle from high interest rates, which is wider fed

needs to start cutting come in my opinion. they are not going to start cutting six days from now like i would if i was running the fed, but they are going to cut in september. we are pricing five cuts of the last month. the underlying weakness in the economy gives reasons to be concerned. the economy gives reasons to be concerned-— the economy gives reasons to be concerned. ., ~ , ., , . . concerned. thank you very much. we are auoin concerned. thank you very much. we are going to — concerned. thank you very much. we are going to have _ concerned. thank you very much. we are going to have to _ concerned. thank you very much. we are going to have to leave _ concerned. thank you very much. we are going to have to leave it - concerned. thank you very much. we are going to have to leave it there. i are going to have to leave it there. great to be with you. let's talk in more detail about the us economy now because the pace of growth has picked up strongly in the three months tojune while the rate of inflation fell sharply. us gdp grew at an annual rate of 2.8% in the second quarter according to advance figures from the us bureau of economic analysis. that's way more than the 2% most economists were expecting. and it's double the la % growth recorded in the first three months of the year.

let's speak to diane swonk chief economist and managing director at the business consultants kpmg. always great to speak to you. what's your reaction to this data? there is a very good point about inventory rebuilding. we saw a lot of hedging and running tariffs, and a threat off port strikes, so many retailers were filling up for the inventory in the third quarter. that said, consumers accelerated in their spending and there was a bit of a goldilocks aspect to the number, the accelerated because they pushed back price hike. major retailers pulled back their prices as inflation cooled. that is exactly what the federal reserve is looking for, and thatis federal reserve is looking for, and that is what we are looking for right now because it opens the door to rate cuts in september next week notjuly, as your previous guest noted. that is important. there is

concern we could see a broader weakening in the us economy in the second half of the year, not least because of earlier rate hikes and the repricing of loans, but also because of the uncertainty surrounding the election itself. we know 62% of our ceos surveyed said that they were going to delay big investment decisions around the election because of the extraordinary uncertainty setting us up extraordinary uncertainty setting us up for weaker growth and investment as we get show the turn of the year. you mentioned the election. who do you think the economy helps more given where we are in the economic cycle? democrats or republicans? everybody views the economy through the lenses of their partisan lenses and that distorts how people view it. there is also a real break between how republicans experience the economy and democrats in democratic strongholds. there has

been more inflation in republican strongholds because of the in migration of wealthy buyers buying homes and increasing the cost of everything. the post—pandemic migration. that has made it harder on the existing residents, they have experienced more inflation, and that is what they are really concerned about. there is also the cumulative effect of higher price levels. so, you know, the economic aggregates are good, but they describe everyone and nobody at once. i think it is really important to delineate that is why you see so much difference in by party affiliation between how they view the economy at any point in time. yes, it is distorted by the lenses and the party affiliation, but also their economic.- lenses and the party affiliation, but also their economic. thank you so much. but also their economic. thank you so much- very _ but also their economic. thank you so much. very good _ but also their economic. thank you so much. very good to _ but also their economic. thank you so much. very good to talk- but also their economic. thank you so much. very good to talk to - but also their economic. thank you so much. very good to talk to you. j the uk's new state owned energy firm great british energy has announced its first project to boost britain's renewables industry.

it's teaming up with the crown estate the organisation that runs king charles�*s huge property portfolio and owns most of the sea bed around the uk. gb energy plans to build new offshore wind farms that the government hopes will power 20 million homes. energy expert chris wheaton told the bbc it's all part of a project to reduce reliance on imported power pretty ambitious, and that's a great place to start because the uk has got amazing renewable energy capacity and it needs to make that work for the nation. i think the key political risk gb energy is trying to address is the risk of bills and the risk of bills spiking like we saw back in 2022, and the practicality of delivering that is going to be about changing the energy mix in an energy transition from the current fossil fuel heavy one to a much more renewable one. that's going to take a lot of money and that means great british energy needs to bring as much capital to bear as possible to unblock some of the issues that are faced. renewable energy

roll—out in the country. so, for example, uh, grid connections taking up to ten years, the roll—out of new technologies like hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, tidal, uh, nuclear. so what this is really all about is trying to bring more money to try and solve the problems. starting today nashville tennessee hosts one of the biggest events in the cryptocurrency industry the 202a bitcoin conference. the event culminates with a keynote speech on saturday from none other than republican nominee and former president donald trump. he's running as the "pro crypto" candidate — and hauling in digital donations. but he wasn't always the staunch supporter he is today. erin delmore has the story.

"not money, volatile, based on thin air." that's how donald trump used to talk about the world's leading cryptocurrency. he called bitcoin a scam. but now trump is running as the pro—crypto candidate for president, calling for domestic bitcoin production, choosing a running mate with six figures in bitcoin holdings and being rewarded with millions of dollars in cash and crypto donations from silicon valley's giants. they're betting on the trump vance ticket in hopes that pro crypto talk turns into pro crypto policy. if the duo makes their way to the white house. this is an industry that's been under attack in washington. disproportionately so. and so i think it's completely valid for the industry to stick up for itself and defend its interests. but not all are convinced that trump's about—face on crypto's value is authentic. we're not 100% sure if he's saying this in order to win votes, or if he truly intends to endorse crypto or and embrace it as president if elected. there's nothing new about political donations from outside groups. big money is a big force in presidential elections, but crypto's outsider status

in the finance industry and its targeting by regulators under the biden administration make the appeal to trump strong and deep pocketed. what we're seeing now is basically a continuum of the crypto industry doing whatever it has to do to buy political friends so that they will prioritise crypto's interests and not the interest of the american people. dennis kelleher runs a public interest nonprofit in washington, and says that the crypto enthusiasts stand to benefit as much as trump, if not more. crypto should be heavily regulated and prosecuted. and instead what we have is the industry firing a money cannon to buy politicians to prevent that from happening and to get a very favourable regulator with very weak regulations. trump's keynote address at this year's bitcoin conference could solidify his status

as the crypto candidate. shares of gucci owner kering have fallen sharply after the french luxury goods group reported a worse than expected drop in sales for the three months tojune and warned the rest of the year will be tough. luxury brands are struggling with a slump in the key chinese market and a cost of living crisis around the world. the market are mixed. nasdaq just off.

hello from the bbc sport centre. andy murray admits he �*ran out of time' after announcing he's withdrawing from the singles event at the paris 0lympics. he recently had an operation on his back and said ahead of the games that this would be his final event before retiring. instead — murray will now focus

on the men's doubles event alongside dan evans — they'll face japan pair taro daniel and kay nisikori in the first round. pair taro daniel and kei nishikori in the first round. depsite his fitness problems — murray says he couldn't miss the chance to be a part of the olympics one more time. being part of a team is something i have always really enjoyed, but at the olympics is different. it feels a lot bigger thanjust the olympics is different. it feels a lot bigger than just your own sport, which is what we do all of the time. when you are walking around the village and you see all of the athletes from however many countries it is, just living with each other and getting along with each other and getting along with each other, competing with each other, it is different. it is great to see that that is possible, and thatis to see that that is possible, and that is something i really enjoy, as well. well, murray won't be the only

former grand slam winner calling time on their career after the olympics.